Bittersweet Farm

Bittersweet Farm

Amity, Ohio

Filed Under: Current Thoughts

photo by Mark Romesser
There is a beautiful stretch of road Ohio along State Route 3 north of Mt. Vernon. Locally it’s known as Wooster Road. The road runs into the Village of Loudenville along the Mohican River and on into the Mohican Memorial State Forest.

We used to go out that way to get our Christmas tree. There was a delightful hill farm on Pigeon Roost Road. For a few years they saved us a big Blue Spruce every year. State Route 3 It was a beautiful way to the Amish Country. Near there was a village called Jellico and another named Amity.

One day on a solitary drive I got to thinking about the name of the little village… Amity—it just isn’t a word people use anymore, but when they mapped that little village they did. It means unity, friendship, peace. Peace is a great longing and thirst of the human soul-every one of us craves it.

Those who are justified by faith can live in Amity—with God. Imagine a time and a place of unbroken eternal peace. We have the initial downpayment on that within each of us when we are justified by faith! God has arranged for us to live forever in the peaceful Village of Amity—peace and accord with God.

Ken Pierpont
Bethel Church-Jackson, Michigan
August 1, 2018

Get in the Van

Filed Under: Bittersweet Farm, Circuit-Riding, Village Parson

I served my last church for 10 years. When I resigned I did not have a place of full-time ministry. It was a very, very difficult time for our family. You can’t tell by looking but my heart was broken as I preached this message and our family was devastated. This was my very last message to the people I had faithfully loved and led for ten years. I told them a story about about following God even when you are not sure where you are going.

What happened after that was a miracle–a series of miracles. It was an incredible spring and summer–a time I will never forget. God sent me to churches and camps and conferences in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, New York, Michigan and Canada… He was so faithful. I preached 117 times, traveled thousands of miles and all our needs were met.

God protected us from determined enemies and protected our daughter and her little ones who were traveling through the darkest, most difficult waters. By the end of the summer I had been called to Bethel Church and in the fall I had finished my preaching on the road. By January we moved into our new home on Bittersweet Farm.

I wrote all about my travels and preaching in what I called The Red Jeep Journeys… You can search for them and read all about it.

Follow Ken Here